Discussion three
In the video where Mr. Fred Rogers gives a speech to the Senate in order to increase the funding given to PBS, Mr Rogers uses direct eye contact and used his hands to emphasis his points. He makes little movement ensuring that the audience focuses on what he says and conveys an air of seriousness. His choice of words is careful to avoid wordiness and he goes directly to the point. This makes his message quite clear. He chooses words like appeal and really need to communicate the assistance that PBS needed from the Senate. Mr. Rogers demeanor and appeal through proper wording and serious delivery makes his speech quite effective. I demonstrated good listening skills while listening to the video by looking at the body movements along with listening to what was said. Sitting down, what was not said, facial expressions and aspects of the voice like tone and flow were also taken into account.
In the video where Mr. Al Gore Rogers gives a speech to the Senate to raise awareness on global warming, he uses emphasis to catch the attention of his audience. He makes gestures to accompany his words making the delivery quite effective. He also uses direct eye contact and makes minimal movement ensuring there are few distractions to his audience hearing his message. He chooses words like danger and right now to emphasis the urgency of acting on global warming. His message is clear and appealing making for effective communication. In watching this video I also listening while looking at the body movements along with listening to what was said. What was not said, the sitting down, facial expressions and aspects of the voice like tone and flow were also taken into account.
Response to classmates posts
1. The writer failed to notice the seriousness of the facial expressions of the speakers. This demeanor is very important in understanding the frame within which the speakers are communicating. The facial expressions reveal the determination of the speakers and also communicate that the subject of the speech is a matter of grave seriousness.
2. The writer fails to understand the role of sitting in relation to the body movement. Although it may be required by the senate, sitting down assists the speakers in that they are at the same level with the senate members and can appeal to them on a more personalized level. It makes their body movements deliberate rather than accidental.
In order to be effective, communication has to be well coordinated and should not have contradiction. It should bear in mind the audience as well as the message making sure that they are appropriate for each other and can be well received without any type of noise and distractions.
Discussion four
ORIGINAL SOURCE
Paragraph 1
Every year, children die from heat stroke after being left unattended in a vehicle. From 1998 to 2002, the average number was 29 children per year (Fig 1). In 2003, this number increased to 42 (Fig 2) and was 35 in 2004. In addition to death, it is estimated that annually hundreds of children experience varying degrees of heat illness from being left in cars.1 This danger exists despite public education efforts and lobbying for laws against leaving children unattended in vehicles. In a survey performed by Roberts and Roberts,2 approximately one quarter of interviewed women who had infants or toddlers admitted to leaving their children unattended in cars.
Paragraph 2
Young children and infants are more susceptible to heat illness than adults for several reasons. Physiologically, toddlers and infants, despite their increased body surface area to mass ratio, seem to have less effective thermoregulation in comparison with adults as proposed by Tsuzuki-Hayakawa and Tochihara.5 In their study, they demonstrated that children (aged between 9 months and 4.5 years) who were placed for 30 minutes in rooms that were 35°C (95°F) had a rectal temperature that increased more rapidly and was significantly higher than their mothers’. This was despite that children and infant perspire more by body mass in comparison with their mothers. This finding was speculated to occur because smaller masses warm more quickly and that young children have an immature thermoregulatory system. In addition to the potential physical and physiologic differences, adults have the ability to modify behavior on the basis of the environment. They can undergo cooling measures: take off excess clothing, obtain cold drinks, and seek cooler environments (eg, get out of a hot car).
Discussion and paraphrasing
The issues of child safety in cars is wide. However, leaving children in the car poses many dangers including heat related injuries (Mclaren, Null and Quinn, 2005)(PARAPHRASE) . The number of children left in cars has increased making it necessary to protect these children (Mclaren, Null and Quinn, 2005) (PARAPHRASE). Although heat dangers poses one of the fastest harm to children children who are left in the car could face other dangers. While harm continues to come to these children, it is largely avoidable. Parents behaviors and attitudes need to change. Children can not handle long periods in the car like adults can (Mclaren, Null and Quinn, 2005) (PARAPHRASE).
What I find challenging about paraphrasing is that it requires a lot of time to read and understand what is written before the proper understanding can be rewritten using different words. Sometimes the words used in the articles feel like they are the perfect words and thus looking for alternative words to express the same can be hard. Citation is also challenging in that getting the particulars of an article can be tricky. Sometimes the details may not be found on the article itself prompting the writer to look for the details of the article in alternative places. For example, the volume number of a journal may be indicated on the article but not the issue number necessitating looking for that information. I intend to overcome these challenges by reading widely to improve my mastery of the language and also to improve my search skills so that I can get citation with fewer attempts that I do currently.
Reference
Mclaren, C., Null, J and Quinn, J. (2005). Heat stress from enclosed vehicles: Moderate
ambient temperature cause significant temperature rise in enclosed vehicles.
Pediatrics 116 (1) pp 109-112.
